Future Reads (Best Sellers Post #12)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs

Hollow City Ransom Riggs 

Eleanor & Park Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl Rainbow Rowell

Attachments Rainbow Rowell

13 Reasons Why Jay Asher

Before I Fall Lauren Oliver

Room Emma Donahue 

An Abundance of Katherines John Green

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer

Orange is the New Black Piper Kerman

This Star Won't Go Out Esther Earl

Unwind Series Neal Shusterman 

Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green & David Levithan 

Tree of Codes Jonathan Safran Foer

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? Maria Semple

Uglies Scott Westerfield
Silver Linings Playbook Matthew Quick
I Am the Messenger Markus Zusak
Divergent series Veronica Roth

Book Talk Prezi (Best Sellers Post #11)

Jellicoe & Wonder (Best Sellers Final)

Books: Jellicoe Road (2006) & Wonder (2013)

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Jellicoe Road, the story of Taylor Lily Markham after being abandoned by her mother at the 7/11 bathroom in Jellicoe town when she was 11.  She was then whisked to boarding school by Hannah, the reclusive, 30-something, perplexing lady who is the only person Taylor has ever felt close to. Jellicoe is Marchetta’s 3^rd  novel.

The plot of Jellicoe is confusing when you start reading (actually until about halfway through the 400+ page book). There are two different stories taking place. One is a novel that Hannah, who went missing in the beginning, is writing. Hannah has been writing the story for as long as Taylor has known her. Taylor likes to sneak bits of the manuscript, but has never read it all in order. The other plot is following Taylor, a confused teenager who is suddenly in charge of her whole house of girls, and the schools representative for the territory wars.

 

Taylor isn’t a likable character. She is rude, anti-social, and has no real-world skills. Not likable, but very relatable for most.

 “What do you want from me?" he asks.                                                                               

What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.” (Marchetta)

 She got forced into the role of representative for her school, and she has no idea what she’s doing. And would it really be realistic fiction if there wasn’t even a little bit of romance?   

“If you weren't driving, I'd kiss you senseless," I tell him.

He swerves to the side of the road and stops the car abruptly.

"Not driving any more.”  (Marchetta, 315)

The character who grows on you would be Hannah. In the beginning, Hannah isn’t a real winner. She lives alone in the unfinished house by the river, and just when Taylor needs her, she disappears. Jellicoe is a fairly easy book to read, because there are a lot of diverse characters, one of whom a reader can identify with.

The main ideas of the Jellicoe are finding your identity, the importance of family,  and discovering yourself.

Wonder R.J. Palacio

Wonder, the story about August Pullman, the boy born with several genetic mutations, leaving him with a facial deformity. “His eyes are about an inch below where they should be on his face, almost halfway down his cheeks. They slant downward into his face, and the left one is noticeably lower than the right one. They bulge outward because his eye cavities are too shallow to accommodate them.” (Palacio, 88) Wonder is R.J. Palacio’s debut novel.

The book begins with August (Auggie) as the narrator. Then later on, it switches to Via, his older sister. She is struggling with the guilt of being slightly embarrassed of Auggie at her new school, where she isn’t just known as “the girl with the special needs brother”. The plot of the story is interesting; Auggie tells the story, then other characters, when they become narrator, will go back and retell the same story, from their point of view and add something more every time. Auggie is the narrator who pushes the story along the most.

The romance aspect is a little different in Auggies case, since he is still in 5^th grade. There are kids “dating” (what exactly is dating in 5^th grade? Sitting beside each other at lunch.) Auggie is a funny character, and has learned to laugh at himself.

 “I think we're too young to be dating. I mean I don't see what the rush is." Summer says.

"Yeah, I agree," said August. "Which is kind of a shame, you know what with all those babes who keep throwing themselves at me and stuff?”

The main ideas of Wonder are identity and trying to fit in in a new situation.

I enjoyed both Jellicoe Road and Wonder a lot. For Jellicoe, I would give it a solid 4.5/5 stars, for confusing plot line (but it did keep me flipping pages). For Wonder, I would have to say a 4.5/5 as well. I feel like it could be a little more exciting. It’s a good book, and it’s not boring, but it does get a little bit repetitive. I also think it’s a little below my reading grade level (not trying to sound snooty, there are a lot of 6^th graders reading it) but I do think it’s a quality book and I would recommend both of them.  I would recommend Jellicoe if you are a faster reader, and Wonder if you read at a slower pace. 

Blog Reflection (Hon English 1A)

Worst post

http://bethellensbooks.blogspot.com/2013/12/who-is-book-thief-hon-english-1a.html

Who is the book thief? (Hon English 1A)

I just started reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So far, I have found out that the book is narrated by Death. He begins to tell the story of the times he has seen the book thief. The first is when the thief’s brother dies. Death comes to pick his soul up from a train, but does something he usually doesn’t do; he stays with her and her mother. The second time is when her mother and she bury the boy. This is where the girl steals her first book. Then, Death tells how the mother takes the daughter to a foster home on Himmel Street. The mother has some kind of condition that she has to keep paying to get better, and she can no longer support her children. This book is interesting to me and I am excited to continue reading. I want to learn what happens to the book thief at the foster home. Will she ever see her mother again? When will Death next see her? I also want to see the movie, but only after I finish the book.

Best post

http://bethellensbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/wonder-hon-english-1a.html

Wonder (Hon English 1A)

Wonder is about a 5th grade boy named August (or Auggie by his family). He was born with a facial deformity and has been homeschooled and lived a very sheltered life until now. He is starting middle school this year, and has been accepted into a competitive school- Beecher Prep.

Text-to-self connection...

August's English teacher, Mr. Browne has monthly precepts, or mottos to live by for that month. "You can't blend in when you were born to stand out" has been my favorite. I think it not only goes with Auggie, who was treated by family as if he were "normal" when he obviously isn't; but can connect with everyone. Everyone is different, so why act as if we are all the same? Being different is okay, and I don't think enough people know that. Auggie is only in 5th grade, and isn't struggling with the comments, the stares, the things that people do when they don't think he can't see, because he grew up always being used to it. So many people care what other people think of them. Who cares? What other people look like only effects them. I can identify with Auggie in a way that I know some other people can, that what people think isn't a big deal. I don't let it change who I am, because at the end of the day, I am here to please me and not everyone else, like Auggie.

Blogging Reflection

Experience:

What was one strength you had with blogging?

Reading and writing has always come pretty easy to me. I think blogging kept me on top of getting my reading done.  I can’t quite find the time at home to read, but I read a lot in Best Sellers. I think after this tri is over, I’m going to have to set aside reading time at home. I think blogging helped me understand the books I was reading better. I usually don’t write about them, and I liked blogging overall. The hardest thing for me was figuring out what I wanted to write about in my blog. Overall, I had a good blogging experience.

Growth:

How has the quality of your writing improved over the course of the trimester?

The quality of my writing has improved. In my Who is the book thief? post, it was no more than a summary. I got bored as I was re-reading it. One thing that was a bit of a struggle was making connections outside of the text. I never knew how to connect with the writing.  It makes it a lot easier to connect if you can identify with qualities of a character. In my worst post I stated, “I just started reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So far, I have found out that the book is narrated by Death.” That is a boring piece to me. If I was to re-word that, it would be “I just started The Book Thief (Markus Zusak). The most interesting piece so far is that it is narrated by Death.” That sentence makes me want to read more. It’s more exciting. Instead of it being just another piece of information, I want to know more. I want to know how Death narrates, what he is like; I want to know specifics. In my Wonder post, I worked to get a real world connection. In Wonder, I can identify in some way with Auggie. That helped me whenever I was making a connection to myself. I definitely don’t struggle with the same kind of problems that Auggie does, but I think that it still comes together. I like how I gave a very short summary and then explained more in my connection; I didn't give a long summary and then explain it all when it wasn't necessary. I also thought my connection was strong, and can identify with lots of people. I gave a short summary here and then explained it, “Being different is okay, and I don't think enough people know that. Auggie is only in 5th grade, and isn't struggling with the comments, the stares, the things that people do when they don't think he can't see, because he grew up always being used to it.” I took an example from the book and then put it into my own words. I think that makes it an easier concept to understand if you can’t identify with this certain situation. 

Likability Post #9 (Best Sellers)

Likability

I'm currently reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio. When you first start, the narrator is noted in the front by a picture, a name, and a quote to represent either the person or the story they tell. All the narrators start out telling the same story from a different point of view. The first narrator is August Pullman, or Auggie. He is the main character, a fifth-grader, going to school for the first time ever because he was home-schooled all his life. I see him as a very likable character. In the beginning of the book, you feel bad for him, because he was born with a facial deformity. As you get to know him, you stop feeling bad and start to like him a lot. The second narrator is Auggie's older sister, Via. Via has come to accept that she will always be second to her parents, that Auggie will always be their main priority. The third narrator is one of August's only friend from school, Summer. Summer sits with him on the first day of school and they become very good friends, and their parents then meet and become friends. Summer is very likable, and a social-norm rule breaker. When no one else sat with August, she is the one that did. By breaking that "rule", she started a very great friendship. The narrator that I am on currently is Jack. Jack was called on by Mr. Tushman (the principle) to show August around the school and to hang out with him for the beginning of the school year. After a few days, they became good friends and Jack stayed with August because he liked being his friend. In the beginning, Jack seems like a really nice guy, likable and funny. Then August over-hears him making a rude and extremely mean comment and their friendship goes downhill from there. The character that you really don't like is Julian. Julian was another one of the kids called by Mr. Tushman, but was rude and mean from the start to August. He thought he was popular and didn't want to be there to help the new kid around. Julian's whole group of friends are the "mean popular kids" who make all the rude comments about August. I'm excited to see what happens with them. I want to know if Julian and Jack will do the right thing, and that keeps me reading.

Post #7- Book 3 Trailer The Book Thief (Best Sellers)

Non-fiction (Best Sellers post #8)

I think to be non-fiction, a book needs to be about 97% true. Exaggeration of a story is okay, but when you make up a whole other life for yourself, and call it a memoir, that is lying. If I buy a book and it's labeled non-fiction, I expect it to be a true story. Adding in a few details or maybe a small character that didn't really happen is okay in my opinion. But when it gets to be like a story passed down through a family, getting becoming more and more different than what actually happened, that is too much. I think fiction authors have a lot more leeway when it comes to facts. Fiction writers can write about a real event but make up the story completely (historical fiction, The Book Thief)  or completely make something up from their own imagination. This is something that non-fiction writers can't do. If I had to give it a cold-hard definition, non-fiction would be 97% facts, true story, and 3% exaggeration. If the story isn't the least bit exciting, I can't say that I would sit down and read it. So it makes sense to have a little bit of embellishment thrown in there.

Wonder (Hon English 1A)

Wonder is about a 5th grade boy named August (or Auggie by his family). He was born with a facial deformity and has been homeschooled and lived a very sheltered life until now. He is starting middle school this year, and has been accepted into a competitive school- Beecher Prep.


Text-to-self connection...
August's English teacher, Mr. Browne has monthly precepts, or mottos to live by for that month. "You can't blend in when you were born to stand out" has been my favorite. I think it not only goes with Auggie, who was treated by family as if he were "normal" when he obviously isn't; but can connect with everyone. Everyone is different, so why act as if we are all the same? Being different is okay, and I don't think enough people know that. Auggie is only in 5th grade, and isn't struggling with the comments, the stares, the things that people do when they don't think he can't see, because he grew up always being used to it. So many people care what other people think of them. Who cares? What other people look like only effects them. I can identify with Auggie in a way that I know some  other people can, that what people think isn't a big deal. I don't let it change who I am, becuase at the end of the day, I am here to please me and not eveyone else, like Auggie.

Jellicoe Road (Hon English 1A)

The worst thing about my book is...
Switching the plot. The story switches between Taylor Markham in real life and Taylor's dreams, which are the same as her caretaker, Hannah's book. Hannah is the closest thing to a parental figure as Taylor has. She is her dorm adviser at the Jellicoe Private School. Hannah recently went missing, just as Taylor was promoted to her schools representative in the "territory wars" between the Cadets (a military school) and the Townies (the public school in town). The book starts off in Hannah's book, before you meet any characters. At first, you think the 5 people in the separate story are just in Taylor's dreams, but later as the puzzle pieces start fitting together you pick up on the fact that it is actually both her dreams and the book that Hannah has been writing since they met. The only message Hannah left when she disappeared was with the principle, that she was going to help a friend, Ms.Dubose, an allusion to To Kill A Mockingbird (which the principle doesn't get.) Taylor is failing at her job of being Jellicoe's rep, and her life is falling apart without Hannah there. Taylor has been sneaking parts of the manuscript of the book so that is how she has been reading it, and then leading to the dreams. The pieces are now starting to come together of Hannah's relationship to the book. The book has made more sense since I kept reading, but it is hard to stick with. I'm about halfway through and it is just now starting to come together.